Labels

Sample Text

Definition List

Pages

Ordered List

Sunday, March 27, 2016

CHINA: A worthy trade partner

Shahnoor
Wahid

The recent
visit of Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng to Dhaka no doubt reinvigorated
the existing bilateral relations, laying greater emphasis on boosting trade and
commerce between the two friendly countries. Gao Hucheng is a politician and
has been the Commerce Minister of China since March 2013. He formerly served as
the Vice Minister of Commerce and Vice Chairman of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous
Region. Experts consider Gao as a competent technocrat and tenacious negotiator
with an understanding of Chinese political system.

The visit to
Bangladesh by such an important minister can be termed as coming one step
closer to a neighbour, as China's foreign policy now gives more emphasis on
developing good relations with the countries in the neighbourhood. A high level
visit like this has surely given the much needed personal touch and helped
discover more avenues for increasing trade and commerce and further improving
the already existing friendly relations. Such visits also point to the fact
that Bangladesh is being taken more seriously now by our larger neighbours than
ever before, as it has become quite clear to them the benefits good relations
with the country would bring for their own people. These countries now
recognise Bangladesh's potential to graduate from a middle-income country to a
high-income one within the next decade, as technology will speed-up the pace of
development by that time.

It is good
news that Commerce Minister Gao Huchen termed Bangladesh a development partner
and said that China was interested to invest substantially in various projects.
For example, China will build the Bangladesh-China Friendship Exhibition Centre
in Purbachal on the outskirts of the capital and it has offered 15 to 20
billion dollars in soft loan to Bangladesh, to help expand the railway network
across the country.

On her part,
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced allocation of land in
Chittagong's Anwara upazila for establishing a Chinese Economic and Industrial
Zone. She further said that her government will set up 22 special economic
zones to facilitate such investments. She reiterated that Bangladesh and China
have enormous potential in developing joint venture industries. What is worth
noting is the announcement of our prime minister that Bangladesh would invite
the Chinese president and premier to the celebrations marking 40 years of
diplomatic relations between the two countries this year.

A
glimpse from the past would reveal the basis of the claims of Bangladesh-China
friendship. According to a Chinese Embassy source, China-Bangladesh trade
volume reached a record high of $10.3 billion with a growth rate of 21.9
percent in 2012, 10 times that of 2002. The same source reveals that the
accumulated investment (including investmenta from Hong Kong and Taiwan) in
Bangladesh EPZ reached $1.42 billion at the end of 2013, providing jobs for
more than 76,000 Bangladeshis. A growing number of Bangladeshi businessmen are
now conducting business in China.

Our export
record to China so far looks healthy and encouraging. According to media
reports, we exported goods worth $746.19 million in 2013-14, which is a 63
percent increase year on year. In July 2010, China offered a zero-duty benefit
for exports of 4,721 types of Bangladeshi products. What might surprise many is
that China is likely to be our next big garment export destination. According
to Export Promotion Bureau, garments export to China rose by 73.48 percent year
on year to $241.37 million in FY 2013-14. In the last fiscal, in July-December
period, Bangladesh earned $136.5 million, with 24 percent growth year on year.

According to
a RMG sector leader, our garment export to China can cross $1 billion in a year
or two. Besides readymade garments, there is tremendous potential for boosting
export of our jute, leather and leather-based goods to China. Agriculture
products could also be added to our list of exports to China soon.

China believes that because of strong support from Bangladesh, the
initiative of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor could make
substantial progress. Many mega projects and six friendship bridges in
Bangladesh have been built by China, and the seventh is under way, including
the prestigious Padma Bridge. Many other mega infrastructure projects are
progressing with Chinese funds and technical support.

The potential of developing two-way traffic with China in terms of business
and socio-cultural exchange is immense. The government surely deserves kudos for
being able to forge friendship with a worthy partner like China, standing tall
and on equal terms.